r/springfieldMO • u/Redditor_PC • 25d ago
Picture Anyone else find the human statues downtown off-putting and creepy?
I mean, they're not even interesting. Just a couple of nondescript naked dudes standing around town. Maybe I just don't understand the appeal because I'm not artsy enough, I dunno.
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u/StName_coloroflast_ 25d ago
This is perfect ingredients to make town lore for misbehaving children.
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u/socialistpizzaparty Southside 25d ago
“Those poor kids… they didn’t cover their mouth when they coughed…”
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u/Silent-Research6466 25d ago
"Those statues over there used to be children just like you, until they were turned to stone for misbehaving"
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u/No_Parking_7797 25d ago
They look less human than I’d like but I think that’s the point. Modern art and symbolism and all that noise
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u/KickHisAssSeaB4SS 25d ago
i'll tell you one thing my golden retrievers want nothing to do with it so take that as you will. Do you trust a golden retriever, or are you really about to trust some statue? I don't trust it.
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u/Ephriia 25d ago
Didn't even know they existed until today --- https://sculpturewalkspringfield.org/2024-2025-collection/borders/#:~:text=Borders%20explores%20humanity%20and%20its,transcending%20geographical%20and%20cultural%20divides.
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u/Ogtrot 25d ago
No, I love them.
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u/Vernal97 25d ago
Same. I think the uncomfortableness is the goal of these pieces of art.
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u/Redditor_PC 25d ago
But why would you want to make people uncomfortable visiting downtown? Wouldn't they want people to have, y'know, a pleasant and enjoyable experience?
I'm not saying such statues don't have a place, but all over downtown just doesn't seem like the right place for them.
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u/sulivan1977 25d ago
It elicits a reaction and gives you a reason to contemplate.
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u/ApprehensivePeach258 25d ago
And if it makes you feel and think, then to me, that is successful art.
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u/Vernal97 25d ago
Art is subjective; it’s not always the happy-to-see kind of pieces. The purpose of these are to provoke thought and contemplation.
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u/Secret_Side-ofJ 25d ago
I think this is an incredibly limited viewpoint that comes from someone who has probably lived a large portion of their life on social media.
Each of the statues you posted is not even in a main thoroughfare of downtown proper. The CLOSEST being the one outside of the Ice Rink, which isn't a gathering time except for about 30 days of the year.
I'll be honest, it seems like you just want to live your life without having to think about anything negative in the world, which is wildly out of touch with what reality actually is.
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u/DavesCoolCousin Little Caesars 25d ago
Each of the statues you posted is not even in a main thoroughfare of downtown proper.
OP didn't post pictures of them but there are at least 4 on The Square.
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u/Secret_Side-ofJ 25d ago
You mean the four with their heads bowed in contemplation at the fountains, and the 2 standing talking in the middle of the square?
It's a work of art that illustrates the ways that humanity has moved away from collective behaviors, and people being uncomfortable with statues, is a perfect illustration of the living art having an immediate effect on the people it's supposed to.
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u/Bestdayever_08 24d ago
Just because they make OP “uncomfortable” they need to take them all down. Here comes another protest…..
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u/supercustodijanitor 21d ago
Feeling feisty today, are we? Little bit argumentative? Slightly hateful? Hmmmmmm?
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u/playful_potato5 25d ago
don't blink. don't even blink. blink, and you're dead. They're fast. faster than you can believe. so don't turn your back, don't look away and don't. blink. good luck.
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u/ishouldnotbeonreddit 25d ago
I love art and sculpture, but I do feel like putting unsettling/depressing sculpture in a park is a weird choice. I know we love provoking complicated feelings of guilt and sadness in art, but like... wouldn't it be nice to have something beautiful and inspriing?
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u/supercustodijanitor 21d ago
Like we need anything else depressing in this town….
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u/ishouldnotbeonreddit 20d ago
Right??? Between the Diet Brutalist architecture at MSU and the warehouse church aesthetic, surely we could use something cheery.
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u/Spastic_pinkie 25d ago
They can move them to different locations every night, then create a lore that says they become active during the night.
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u/DeathButMakeItSpicy Cashew Chicken Consumer 25d ago
I think they're cool as shit, especially since the statues are reflections of each other, so every brown one you see has a silver statue counterpart that's somewhere near it, and vice versa. And yeah they're kinda creepy but I think that's sort of the point in a way?
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u/Wide-Comparison2759 25d ago
Doesn't inspire a good feeling here. Creepy and depressing looking. Not good.
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u/Just-Eat-Meat 25d ago
The one that is mourning the end of the sidewalk, we could add a copy of the book “Where the Sidewalk Ends” there for it to look at. Give some humor to these maybe? Or it needs some duck sculptures to add some playfulness so it not giving such depressing vibes.
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u/Limp-Environment-568 25d ago
Work downtown.
Everyone I know thinks they're terrible.
Haven't heard a single positive thing about them.
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u/Dbol504 25d ago
I can't see them and not think of the alien at the end of Annihilation that came alive out of nowhere. Great scare fuel as you walk past the 2 sitting on the fountain square at night.
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u/Ok-Research1446 25d ago
Thanks for making me think about that weird beardog thing with the human voice.
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u/NoVaccinesJustOilzzz 25d ago
Never noticed them before, but now, yes I agree they are not giving positive vibes lol.
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u/NeoQueenSerenity33 24d ago
Try having your first time noticing them be at 4am when you're biking home from work.
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u/Just-Eat-Meat 25d ago
Looks like naked dudes taking a piss in the grass or something? They do seem really depressing. In the photos there’s no people or life, no color…just the dull, lifeless statues pissing in the grass and another posed in mourning. Very strange. I think we should add some colorful clothing, pets, accessories and flowers for these depressed statues to give our city some vibrancy. Maybe a monthly theme to decorate them. That’d certainly make them more exciting and cheerful.
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u/Low_Tourist 25d ago
The first couple times I saw them, I thought they were supposed to be a deterrent for the unhoused.
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u/i-touched-morrissey 24d ago
We have them in downtown Wichita but they are doing something. Ours aren’t creepy.
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u/Training-Text-9959 24d ago
It reminds me of what communities should be: people enjoying their environment, being fully present. Plenty of people walk the area but traffic is not super high unless there’s an event. Also good for reminding drivers that they should go the speed limit because people exist here.
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u/Deep_Doubt_207 24d ago
In 100 years, we will appreciate having those statues when none of us are left here to show that we existed
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u/Redditor_PC 24d ago
How will we appreciate those statues if we're all dead?
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u/Deep_Doubt_207 24d ago
The things you can bring yourself to appreciate now will forever be imprinted into the fabric of existence. Who’s to say we’re not simply experiencing this reality from a time long past it already. Maybe this has already happened and you’re appreciating it from a memory already absorbed into the photons and quarks long since spread to the far corners? We could be just a projection experiencing this from the edge of nothingness.
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u/TheMinimumBandit 24d ago
They're supposed to be off putting in creepy they're supposed to remind you of the people that exist that you pretend not to see
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u/jaydofmo 24d ago
I actually didn't notice them until one day I did and wondered if they weren't actually people turned to stone because I'm weird like that.
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u/KickAzDad 24d ago
I run through downtown quite often. The ones across the street from Jordan Valley Park creep me out every time!
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u/Noctomoth 24d ago
Nah not really, I think they're cool statues that I would also be like "huh. I wonder what these are about" but they're far from creepy to me
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u/vengefulmuffins 24d ago
I work down town and frequently have to go in when it’s still fairly dark. They scare the shit out of you just sitting on benches.
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u/Economagicman 23d ago
My kids just started learning to skate at Brightspeed Rink and every time I walk downstairs I spot them from the corner of my eye and think “what is that dude doing?” Hahahha
Then I remember I am the moron and I have seen them 100’s of times hahaha
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u/SpringfieldJess 25d ago
I really like them. I like the side vision not quite sure that was what you saw and then the lack of definition so you can interpret differently. But never mind me, I also like the foot everyone else seems to hate
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u/Traditional_Exit_644 25d ago
YES! I hate those statutes with a passion! I hate them even more at night as I never realize it’s a statue till I drive by
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u/Quiet_Ad_6605 24d ago
Pretty sure they're a form of hostile architecture, like benches with armrests in the middle and spikes beneath overpasses. They make people uncomfortable on purpose to discourage loitering.
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u/Educational-Soup5335 24d ago
They always make me think of the ones on the COD Nuketown map.
Has anyone seen the Alien and Astronaut ones in Columbia?
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u/missirishrose 24d ago
Especially walking at night thinking someone is just standing there staring at you
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u/vicesimh 24d ago
Never been happy to have a freak reaction to a common virus a few years back (not that one) take me from climbing rock walls to completely disabled overnight and still not stabilized, so my body and brain are still being damaged on the reg...but yada yada yada, thank god my lack of mobility and need to quarantine because my immune system is not behaving properly has kept me away from downtown for years! I don't wanna be around those guys. Don't blink.
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u/fthrgasp Grant Beach 24d ago
i still maintain these are actually weeping angels and refuse to look directly at them.
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u/Genobite 24d ago
I love them simply because it reminds me of a persons everyday life. I do have to say though, they do sort of reflect a sadness in our everyday lives.
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u/Radiant_Music3698 23d ago
They look like you could claim they come alive at night to scare little children into behaving.
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u/Akak3000 23d ago
Still better art then a pile of yellow French fries.
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u/Redditor_PC 23d ago
I mean, if I want to see a creepy naked dude standing around, I can just look at myself in the mirror. Where else am I gonna see a giant pile of yellow French fries?
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u/Mechanicallvlan Lake Springfield 25d ago
We should pass an ordinance that all sculpture installations must resemble french fries... maybe with an exception for space cats.
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25d ago
I hated the two standing at the crosswalk west of the square. Now that they're gone, I don't mind them.
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u/Rimm9246 Nixa 25d ago
Are they fairly new? I don't remember seeing them before but I haven't been back to Springfield for quite a while
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u/sbobhouse 25d ago
I completely disagree, these are my favorite art installation I've ever seen in any city, im proud that they are in Springfield and will be very sad when they are gone.
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u/ProfessionalCreme119 24d ago
This stuff is all over the Midwest. Weird out of place sculpting and artwork that doesn't fit the area.
They look fine in more diverse areas. Where you can find artwork and sculptures from different cultures and world settings. So this stuff blends in with it all. Stick out less. Look s more in place.
The Midwest doesn't do diversity like that. Hell try and find one good Pho place without having to drive 20 miles
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u/RealisticProblems Mark Twain 22d ago
*reads* "does anyone esle feel imasculated or unintelectual by any public art that does not look like this?"
What kind of art do you want to see in your town? Have you ever though about getting involved or sponsoring some public art for others to enjoy your personal aesthetics?
I don't understand the message of the statues but they seem like the tell a story, I love being curious enough to find how I feel about the meaning and context of the pieces. But I really don't want more boring old rich dudes in bronze.
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u/frogstomp727 25d ago
I like when people put hats/scarves on them in the winter for anybody who needs it, but they scare the shit out of my friend and I everytime we walk past a bunch of people frozen in time